Questionable process
I find it very interesting and have some concerns that Police Commission Chairman John Bertsch recused himself now from the police chief selection process only after it was whittled down to four prospective finalists.
According to media sources, 40-plus applicants submitted their resumes, identified by numbers only, in the beginning for the police commissioners to view their background information and credentials.
I think that when Commissioner Bertsch first read and scrutinized the application for potential police chief Edward Ignacio, even though he did not know the identity of the individual he was reviewing, he should have caught on then and realized that he knew this person very well and disqualify himself immediately from the start of the elimination process in order for it to be fair and impartial.
But, then again, openness and transparency were not done from the start by the police commissioners. Don’t get me wrong — this is not a knock on Edward Ignacio, because I had the privilege and opportunity to work alongside with Eddie and his dad in the police department, both fine people.
Prentiss Moreno
Hilo
Direct path to Hilo
The original Saddle Road was bulldozed by the military directly on top of a narrow 1935 lava flow that snaked toward Hilo from virtually the same spot threatened by the recent eruption. Had the eruption continued, the chances were fairly good that it would have followed exactly the same path directly down the Daniel K. Inouye Highway toward Hilo.
It’s hard to understand the thinking of the planners of 1990 who decided to invest $300 million to upgrade Saddle Road to the major arterial DKI connecting the two sides of this island, but continued to build it in the low spot between Mauna Loa and Maunakea, which has been repeatedly covered by lava flows over the past two centuries, rather than realign it a few hundred yards north, upslope on Maunakea on land that has not been inundated for many thousands of years.
Given the eruption history of Mauna Loa, it is not a question of if but rather when will DKI be overrun.
Joel Aycock
Keaau
Mahalo, Royal Order
This is in response to “Clean the land for Pele” (Tribune-Herald, Dec. 12).
Kudos to the volunteers and the Royal Order of Kamehameha I for addressing the blight of tents, lean-tos and trash at the Maunakea Access Road.
Certainly, Pele and all islanders will welcome that once pristine area restored to what it was before the protectors of the ‘aina defaced it.
Perplexing that it took a volcanic eruption to get it cleaned up.
Elizabeth O’Keefe
Hilo